Sewing Archives - Page 2 of 3 - A Golden Afternoon: Simplified Home Living

Christmastime is here!

“I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest,

through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops,

and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel.”

Love me some Buddy(“Elf”, for those of you crazy people who might not know the reference :)).

Yes, it’s that time, people. We are busy about the birthday celebration around here (you know, baby Jesus, of course) and are having fun. We have officially started our Christmas break from homeschooling (can I get a woot! woot!) So thankful for a break! I don’t even know what I used to do with my time before. I must have been pretty lazy. No, that’s not true. I never did projects during the day when I had one kid in Kindergarten at an outside school. I do the same amount of projects as I did before I started homeschooling. Now, I am more organized (didn’t think that was possible) and press the “go” button as soon as the little people are asleep usually whilst my husband is traveling. I think people who can sew, knit, or do other quiet projects during the day with little kids around should be photographed like Big Foot. I don’t believe it’s possible because it doesn’t exist in my world. All day projects are kid projects ’round here! Such is life with kids that don’t nap and won’t play or color for hours by themselves.

Since this is a “12 days of Pinterest” series, I guess I’ll have to share about Pinterest for the 1/1000 of you who don’t know about it already. I started using Pinterest last year. Yes, it has actually been around that long. This was back when you didn’t have to wait more than like 5 minutes for the invite. True story. I kept it to myself for a few months because it was still a baby and I didn’t want to send all of my friends to yet another of my creative ventures. However, it obviously spread because I went from having nobody I know on there to most of my friends. Pretty cool when it happens that way, especially when it’s an awesome concept. Basically, you can “pin” things/images from websites and put them into categories of your choosing. The links to the websites are pulled along with the images for easy tracking.

If you are like me, you’ve been doing virtual pinning for a LOOOOONG time. It’s called folders on your computer. The ease of use for Pinterest and the ability to see what everyone else is pinning to their boards is completely unique. Plus, you can pin their pins too. I’ve found a few buddies who I didn’t know before Pinterest that I am so thankful for. They are the people you’ve been pinning back and forth with for almost a year and you finally decide to introduce yourselves. I love to make new friends.

Here’s my “virtual pin-board” before Pinterest:

Here is my “virtual pin-board” now:

I don’t know why I have 377 people following me. Crazy! Happy to share what I love.

So, I’ve made some plans for this Christmas to help further that desire to get stuff done like people with lower energy children…

I’m so pumped to do this series not only because Christmas is my favorite holiday, but because I love to just make. This month I’m going to take some of the hundreds (actually thousands) of things I’ve pinned and turn them into a reality. Don’t worry, I didn’t take on too much. This is something I would be doing if nobody saw me but my only family. I have always been this crazy. Yes, yes I have. The topics are related to anything from edibles to sewing to epoxy glue. It’s gonna be a blast. I’m hoping to do some with my friends if I can. Hear that, friends?

I’m also excited to hang out with some people I don’t know but like to hang out with me. Hi, people! It’s good to meet you, don’t be shy :) Feel free to tell me what you think and show me what you’ve made (from my pins or even from some of your own) on the “12 Days of Pinterest” Flickr page entitled, “I totally made this and it’s awesome.”

I hope you have fun too! Start pinning!

Dressing Up

The week before Halloween, Miss F would have told you she was going to be a beautiful monarch butterfly. Then I made the mistake of saying under my breath that a “Mighty Macs” costume would have been cute. Note that I said “would have been”. However, I looked into the eyes of the girl who thoroughly enjoyed going to Philadelphia for the premier of “The Mighty Macs” (read about it here), copied movie advertisements to hand out to strangers (was upset we didn’t walk her to the grocery to hand them out), asked to call all of her friends to come see the movie, was doing basketball drills in the front yard, and now wants to be a basketball coach just like her Gram.

So, I said yes.

Thank goodness for the world series. I made it on a night when my husband had a buddy over and I just went for it for a few hours. I just traced a pattern from an old jumper. I couldn’t see a great picture of what these uniforms looked like in the 70’s, so matching the pleats was tough. I only see the hemline I didn’t bother ironing out of haste and also laziness. She doesn’t notice it though and I need to remember that.

Future basketball coach.

He was pretending to be in a bad mood but I only saw cuteness.

Protector or villain?

Little D pretty much wears this every day so this day wasn’t too different for him.

The bunch.

My annual picture with the kiddos for my birthday….with a China man’s hat. It’s very necessary. They kinda look confused, though.

Loving now: chevrons

I finally finished my pillows…

“Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done,

and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal”

Elbert Hubbard

Kindergarten Graduation…sniff sniff

I realized after a few people asked that I never showed pictures of my baby girl’s graduation and last day of school. I think I was just so excited for summer and to start homeschooling that I pressed on through to first grade! So, here you go…

She was obviously excited! Mrs. Broadway was my Kindergarten teacher as well, can you believe that? She is a lovely woman and has a wonderful heart for teaching. Go Faith!

I love the awkward way that each kid stands.

My little buddy giving his approval.

The teacher had them draw a picture on the first day of school and then on the last. Good idea, huh?

The school secretary who happens to be Grandma.

Making some masks…they lasted a few hours but no a whole lot sticks to plastic.

Mr. Bean

I had to say goodbye to the lunch bag I made…sniff. If you have interest in making one for next year, they are so easy! It really was one of the easiest things I’ve ever sewn. Go here for the instructions from Martha and her team.

Goodbye, Kindergarten! Thank you Mrs. Broadway!

Remember that pillowcase?

I almost forgot to show you what I made out of this vintage pillowcase. I was going to make a dress and was all set up when I realized the pillowcase was going to be too short for a dress…like WAY short. Ugh. I was finally going to make one and I was too late. Instead, I made something way less cool and just plain practical. It’s a bed frame cover for my little guy. He falls out of bed constantly so I knew it was time.

It turned out, the pillowcase was just the right size. Trust me, I’ve been sewing a long time and this kind of thing rarely happens.